Methodology used to identify bug:
1. I compiled Mono 1.2.6 from the source at Novell using:
./configure --prefix=/home/aha/tools/mono-1.2.6
make
make install
2. I then compiled the source listed above using the mono distributed with Hardy Heron
3. I attempted to run the Assembly encoding_test.exe using the mono runtime distributed with Hardy Heron
and received an exception
4. I ran the same code using the mono runtime that I compiled from scratch and the code ran as expected.